Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Geli, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the Metlen Energy & Metals PLC conference call to present and discuss Metlen's first half 2025 financial results. All participants will be in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on your telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Evangelos Mytilineos, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, and other senior executives. Mr. Mytilineos, you may now proceed.
Thank you very much. Welcome, everybody, from Athens, London, the East Coast of the U.S., and elsewhere. I thank you for joining us in the last conference call of Metlen Société Anonyme, which was the name of the company before it changed to Metlen PLC. The next conference call will be the first one as PLC. Before we walk through the highlights of our first half results and outlook for the remainder of the year, I would like to share with you a few thoughts. First of all, I have to say I'm especially excited to welcome you to this last call. For me, personally, it's very important. I have been participating as Chairman and/or CEO in the company for the last 30 years. It's a very big cycle that is ending today.
It has also been just six weeks since our successful admission to the LSE and only a few days before the official inclusion in the FTSE 100. This has been an extraordinary period for our company, not a typical one. I'm deeply grateful for the support of our team, investors, partners, employees, and may I underline the support of our retail investors who voted massively in favor of the relisting process and tendering their shares on time. This truly marks the beginning of a new era for Metlen on the global stage. Exceptionally, we are announcing our half-year results at this time due to the timing of our London listing process. We usually announce our results much earlier, both half-year and full year, as well as the trading updates.
Our listing in London was a clear statement of intent to position Metlen where it belongs on the global stage as a leader in energy and metals. It provides us with access to deeper capital markets, greater visibility, and a broader investor base, all of which support our long-term ambition of sustainable growth. May I turn now to Eleftheria Kontogianni, our CFO, who would like to go through some numbers, and then we'll be back together again. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our semiannual results call. I trust you have all seen the material the company released this morning, so I will not go page by page. I will only consume a few minutes to take you through the qualitative characteristics of our financial results. The company, for the first six months of the year, delivered a strong first-half performance versus half-one 2024, supported by a 45% increase across all business units: metallurgy, energy, and infrastructure and concessions, reflecting the company's continued drive for growth. In the metallurgy business unit, this segment was benefited by favorable average LME prices, alumina prices, and premia. In the energy business unit, four out of five subsegments recorded materially higher turnover at the area of more than 50%.
Renewables marked a strong financial performance driven by an approximately 50% increase on assets rotated for the period, including our landmark Chile transaction of 588 megawatts combined with storage capacity. On top of it, we managed to conclude transactions for another 170 megawatts of assets rotated in Europe, contributed to this result as well. While our operating renewables and EPC works contributed really steadily to this period's result. In the energy generation and management, the growth was supported by a combination of increased production volume and day-ahead market prices. In the integrated supply and trading, the turnover increased by 51% due to a combination of higher volumes and prices we saw in the market regarding the price of natural gas. On the energy customer solutions, the volumes were materially increased versus half-one 2024.
We managed to add one gigawatt-hour of electricity and half gigawatt-hour of natural gas, reflecting exactly the company's ongoing successful efforts to expand the market share. In the infrastructure and concession segment, this third pillar of our business marked a turnover increase at the area of 160% versus half-one 2024, with all projects advancing according to schedule. I will proceed to the operational profitability of the company to our EBITDA, which was 6% down. In metallurgy, the segment was benefited by the favorable revenue parameters on the selling prices side. This has supported strongly the performance. While we faced pressures coming from higher production and particular energy costs, the operational profitability was finally pressed down by 9%. In the energy business unit, three subsegments recorded materially higher operational profitability versus half-one 2024.
In renewables, a 54% increase in EBITDA, supported by what I have already mentioned analyzing turnover, giving a steady, strong, above 20% EBITDA margin to this business. In the energy generation and management, the combination of increased production volumes, the day-ahead market prices optimization, and the excellent energy management of the company led to an increase of 17% EBITDA of this subsegment. In the integrated supply and trading, the operational profitability almost tripled, increased due to higher natural gas prices, while our team managed to increase the operational profitability margins in this subsegment. Two subsegments of the business unit down versus half-one 2024. I'm going to energy customer solutions. The significantly higher volumes and market share versus half-one 2024 was pressed margins driving EBITDA down because of the company's commercial policy that continues to aim at gaining market share by keeping prices low for many months.
In the MVP, in the Empower projects, the EBITDA of this subsegment amounted to a loss of €132 million for the current period. In the usual cost of this kind of our businesses, we have very prudently accounted for the period for delays and increased project costs. Especially with regards to Protos projects, annual losses are recorded in this six-month period in the accounts. The EBITDA of infrastructure and concessions proceeds exactly in line with the estimation of doubling our results versus 2024, marking an increased EBITDA of approximately 155% versus half-one 2024. Our net profits were down 10% for the period. They followed the pace, I would say, of EBITDA decrease, and they were pressed further by the direct effect of financials increase, mainly as a result of debt increase. I'm moving forward to give you a summarized view of our cash flows.
The net debt for the period marked a marginal, I would say, increase at the area of €290 million. On an adjusted basis, it is very well controlled. Our net debt stands at €2 billion, with a respective leverage ratio for the first six months at 2.06 times EBITDA. The CapEx spending for the first six months reached €464 million. This is a CapEx that was spent at 90% for growth purposes, mainly supporting our renewables investment program. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm passing the floor again to you.
Thank you very much. The floor now belongs to you. We're ready to discuss any queries, questions, or anything you might like to discuss with us, please.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will begin the question and answer session with our written questions. The first question is from the line from Mr. Vangelis Karanikas with NBG Securities. I quote, "Thank you for taking my questions. I have three, if I may. What can you say about the full year 2025 guidance? An outlook by business segment would also be very helpful." Question number two, given the strategic shift into new markets and the FTSE 100 inclusion, what are Metlen's key priorities in terms of international expansion? Are there specific partnerships or acquisitions under consideration to accelerate global expansion, and how can the London listing be supported in this process? Question number three, during the CMD, you had talked about upcoming organizational changes. Are you able to provide more color around the timing and goals of those changes? Thank you.
Right. Thank you for the three questions. They're quite juicy questions. I would need some time to answer each one of them, but I'll try to be as short as possible. On the guidance outlook, we remain firmly on track to exceed the full-year EBITDA target of €1 billion, supported by strong performance across key segments. This is despite the one-off MPP impact, which I think demonstrates the benefits of our diversified business model. Needless to say that the €1 billion base that we have established in the last, say, three to four years, we consider as the absolute minimum. It is a base from which we are building in order to arrive at the €2 billion mark that we have placed as a target for the medium term.
I consider it a success, and I am confident that the €1 billion, regardless of the MPP one-off loss, which means that otherwise, the full-year EBITDA would be €1.13 billion. Despite that, the billion is already a very strong base, and I want to underline this. Underlying business has shown a very strong performance. Record levels from key activities such as the renewables and utility business. When I say utility business, I mean the MEX, which is mostly the retail power and gas. I mean the gas trading and supply. This is the utility business. This utility business is one of the key changes in our big three changing announcements that we will be announcing shortly. The utility business will become one.
I don't want to go into the details of the big three because it's coming shortly anyway, but I wanted to make sure that it is clear to you that from now on, utility is going to become utility. Energy utility, as I said, continues to outperform expectations, showing increased production and higher market share in the electricity supply, driven by sustained demand and sustained brand positioning. We can all realize, of course, that when we talk about utility and we include the energy management, which has brought us so much healthy profitability in the last few years, we include the retail, which is gaining market share very rapidly. The prospects for the utility business are very bright, not in the too-distant future. Let me remind you at this point of time that the €2 billion target of the medium term includes two categories of improvements.
One is the improvement of the existing business segments, the biggest of which is the utility business, for example. The second is the three new segments that we added and for which you heard for the first time at the Capital Markets Day in London last April. The first improvements, also in size and numbers, are coming, of course, from existing businesses which are expanding. For example, on its way to 30%, the retail business will be expanding. This belongs to the first category. In the second category, we have, for example, critical metals like the gallium investment. We have the collection of metals from residues and tailings and all this. We have, of course, defense, which has already started very quickly. Let's not forget these two categories of improvements.
The renewables project execution is progressing ahead of schedule and expected to continue to play its role as a growth engine. Metka are there, same as above, showing robust growth with expansion in recurring revenue and pipeline conversion. I mentioned a specific mention of Metka in the CMD in April, and I'm very glad I have been proven right very quickly. Metka is going full speed, and if you want, we can talk a little bit more about Metka going forward. Overall, our balanced portfolio and disciplined cost management provide resilience, ensuring we meet our full-year guidance with confidence. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Nestoras Gracios with Optima Bank. I quote, "Could you elaborate on the reasons behind the losses of Empower projects? Consider this an isolated incident, and what steps are being taken to ensure it will not happen again." Question number two, with photovoltaics overproduction increasingly leading to grid overloads and curtailments in various markets, do you see a material impact on Metlen's renewables profitability? Is battery deployment sufficient to offset these risks? Thank you.
MVP, we are all very sad with the way things turned out for MVP this year. MVP, through the years, has been the core for those of you who have followed the company for years, has been the core business of the group in the name of Metka, has brought in a lot of very good projects from very difficult parts of the world. It was a real rock in what was then Mytilineos Holdings and has been there ever since. Now, MVP has taken over the power plants, has taken over the grids, has taken over the data centers. I hear a lot of complaints about the performance of MPP this year. I'm really sad, as many of you are, for what would otherwise be an extremely good set of results had it not been for these losses of MPP.
However, let's not forget that the company in the last 12 years has executed in total 283 different projects, including several of high complexity. This is the first one that suffers from material loss. It's important to understand this. That's why I stand behind MPP in this difficult moment. It is a one-off case. We have very good people there. We have know-how. We've been in many parts of the world. We've taken our lesson from what is a difficult business, waste-to-energy. It is our first and only project in waste-to-energy. We paid very expensive fees, but we learned our lesson. In this particular case, I have to make a special mention about it. Our performance was impacted by unforeseen issues in the Protos project.
Our performance was impacted by unforeseen issues in the Protos project, including a major third-party workplace fatal accident, which led to significant delays and multiple work stoppages. This kind of accident in the UK is, of course, anywhere in the world, it's the worst thing that can happen to you on the site. In the UK, it's extremely strict. The site has to stop all kinds of work. Even if it was not our own fault or our own personnel, we're extremely sorry about it, and we suffered a major delay in this instance. We also had subcontractor failures and technological complexity difficulties. The situation was worsened by the bankruptcy of a key subcontractor and the withdrawal of another from the region in general, both of which were critical to executing a project based on novel technology. Updated timeline and financial transparency.
Please, let's pay a little attention to that because for us, this is the most important. In July, a revised project timeline and reassessed budget were agreed. The company has fully accounted for the financial impact of its results for a period until the end of the year 2025. We took all the losses of the year already in the first half. This is a non-core isolated incident. It is considered a project-specific case, not indicative of the broader issues. In any case, MPP is not a core business for Metlen, as you all know. The losses reflect the impact we anticipated, I repeat again, for the full year. We had the option to split the loss in the two semesters, but we did not. We took it all in the first half because we wanted to be as transparent as possible towards the market and our shareholders in particular.
I conclude by saying that the company continues to monitor and manage the situation closely, maintaining a transparent and responsible approach to ensure lessons have been learned and risks are mitigated going forward. Going to the other question about the overproduction, increasing to grid overloads and curtailments in various markets. This is probably one of the most crucial questions that I could receive, and I thank you very much for it. There's also a question about the battery deployment and if it is sufficient to offset these risks. In all energy committees, both in-house or outside, the question number one that is discussed between participants is the zero pricing because of the abundance of renewables almost everywhere in the world, but especially in Europe and more especially in the south of Europe.
It is a dangerous situation, especially for operations which operate on a merchant basis, and they don't have any firm demand as an offtake. Some of you may have wondered why we have been insisting on a 30% market share in the retail markets. As I have said before, I think the last time in our AGM, the center of the heart of the power market is not supply anymore. It is demand. Demand is keeping the system ready, assisted with the best situation grids that can exist. By operating the biggest energy consumer in the country, in Greece, which is the aluminum plant, which on its own consumes 6% of the total annual Greek power, and second, by raising our market share to 30%, which may happen sooner than you expect, we have a steady demand.
Against this demand, we have our own assets, which are mostly thermal, but also green. These green assets of ours are not threatened by the zero prices and the negative prices. Why? Because they have an offtake, which is an in-house offtake. For example, at a certain day, last Sunday, we had 10 hours of zero pricing. Is that good or bad for the aluminum company? You can answer yourselves. Therefore, the answer is that the overproduction from the renewables and the grid overloads and the zero pricing and the negative pricing and the curtailments are going to become worse before they get any better. We are absolutely ready to face this situation, and not only face the situation, but take advantage of this situation.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ioannis Nikokirakis with Alpha Finance. I quote, "Good afternoon. Congrats on your listing on LSE and the prospective inclusion in FTSE 100. Two questions from my side. During your CMD, you mentioned defense as an important growth driver. Following the recent announcements, could you provide more color about the investments and outlook of this business?" The question number two, with regards to the activities of the circular metals, would you be able to provide us with an update on those initiatives/investments? Are they progressing on time for the first production in 2028? Many thanks for your answers.
Before I go to Mr. Nikokirakis's questions, I forgot to say in the previous question of Mr. Gracios from Optima, a word about batteries. Batteries are going to be what the PVs used to be five or seven years ago. Batteries are the new market for renewables. We have a long experience on batteries. As you know, we have installed one-third of storage batteries in the UK. We have installed thousands of megawatts in other markets. Some good news for our shareholders, in the next few days, we will announce two new big projects for ourselves and clients on the storage battery site in Greece and in the region. Stay tuned for this one. It's going to be very interesting. Now, defense. Defense, as a meaning of word defense, it is a turbulent issue, but it's not turbulent for our company.
We have had first-class plants, two, as a matter of fact, for the last 30 years, and it has been relatively easy for us to expand this duo into a five-plant defense hub operating mostly on land systems. The third plant that our Prime Minister visited in Volos three months ago is going full speed, and it is expected to start commissioning at the beginning of the year and start delivering the first equipment in the second quarter of 2026. Last week, we took the final investment decision for the fourth plant, which is going to be ready, say, latest second quarter 2027. Deliveries of this one, 2027. There remains a fifth plant which we have already bought. It's next to the others. It's bigger than the others. It's a matter of time before we announce also the FID for this one.
On the defense side, we are going full speed, and we are very happy for the progress that has been made. We have taken on very experienced people to complete a management team that is going to be the number one team in the defense in Greece. It deserves to be because it will have to run a big defense hub. The circular metals is a different case. It is not like the Volos defense complex because it has had an exhaustive R&D for the last three years. We have had, as I said, in April, a pilot plant, which is slowly getting underway. We expect by the latest in October to have a commissioning of the pilot plants.
As I said at the CMD, we intend to organize visits of those of you that would like to visit this plant, which is the only one of its kind in the world. I remind you that the production is based on proprietary patents that have been globally approved. I think, and I recommend to you, for those of you who can visit the plants as soon as commissioning is underway. Mr. Manos Agiragis from Better Securities now.
Thank you. Hello, and many thanks for the presentation and your time. Three questions from my side. Financial press reports suggest that Metlen has expressed interest in acquiring Hellenic Energy, and more recently, there has been speculation about a potential acquisition of the 15% PPC stake currently held by a major foreign fund. Could you share your comments on these reports? A second question, do you anticipate any upcoming changes in the European Union or U.S. trade policies that could have a material impact on Metlen's performance in the metal segment? Question number three, given that the metals business is primarily USD exposed, what measures has the company taken to mitigate potential risks from a further strengthening of the euro against the dollar? Thank you.
Thank you very much. All three are very relevant questions. About Hellenic Energy, I have to stick to what I said in our AGM last year, that we are completely unaware of any change in the position of the two main shareholders, the pan-European company and the government. Also, we have no news regarding a new placement that had been announced around that time. We know nothing about this as well. As I had said then, and I repeat now, there's no doubt that this is a business which is, in many ways, supplementary to our business. Therefore, it's interesting for us. There is no progress to announce on this one.
Regarding the speculation about the potential acquisition of the PPC stake 15% that belongs to a fund, I would like to categorically say that we have no intention and no interest to bid for PPC, which is our biggest competitor on the power supply side. At the same time, we work together on projects in various countries in the regions, and we have a very good relationship. The same is true also for Hellenic Energy. We all three belong to a relatively narrow list of Greek companies that can have a strong presence in the export and international markets. It is imperative that we maintain good and civilized relationships in businesses. We can forget these PPC rumors and so on, please. If we anticipate any changes in EU or U.S. trade policies, we have read so many things about the tariff situation and the U.S.
policies and the EU reaction and so on. The 15% tariff that has been placed on European products entering the U.S., I think, has been a major defeat for Europe. I've spoken publicly about it. Let's see how it plays out. I don't think the whole story of the tariff situation is something that will be completed and finalized very quickly. It will take time. How it's going to go, it remains to be seen. The consequences are also mainly to be seen going forward. Let's see the impacts on inflation in the U.S. and other secondary restrictions. Of course, you wouldn't like me now to start talking about the geopolitical changes that you can all read about every day in the press and everywhere. It will take us hours to even start talking about it. Let's stick to that.
We need some time to get the real impact of these changes. The last question is the U.S. dollar weakness and whether our company has taken measures for the exposure in the dollar. Overall, as some of you who follow the company know, we follow a prudent hedging policy as far as the currency and the London Metal Exchange exposure are concerned. Here as well, we have some kind of hedgings. What is more important is that we have a natural hedging. What is the natural hedging? The natural hedging is that all of the aluminum and aluminum is sold in the international markets in dollars, whereas the costs are half dollar, half euros. On the other hand, we have the MRES, the renewable segment, which buys everything in dollars or almost everything and sells almost everything in euros.
We have a physical hedging there, which helps us to avoid a massive hedging in the capital markets. This is my comment for the U.S. dollar exposure. Other questions, please.
Thank you, Mr. Mytilineos. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now proceed with questions from our audio participants. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star followed by one on their telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, then you may press star and two. Please use your handset when asking your question for better quality. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. One moment for the first question, please. The first question is from the line of Masvulas Ioannis with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Yes, good afternoon. Thank you very much for the presentation. A few questions left from my side. I'll take them one at a time if that's okay. First, on M-Customer Solutions, you continue to increase your electricity supply share to 21% while also managing to improve EBITDA versus the second half of last year. Do you see prospects to continue defending margins as you move towards the 30% target, or would you need to be more aggressive on pricing going forward? Within that, you mentioned that you could potentially get closer to the 30% target. Could you perhaps articulate that a bit more and whether that will require some bold on M&A transactions? Thank you.
Thank you very much. It is true that expansion in retail, and particularly in the power and gas business, costs money. You have to make a very correct calculation, a very accurate calculation, whether it's cheaper to buy a company or to increase your share organically. After the merger of Iron with NRG, there are three main, so to say, blocks in the market, which is the PPC, ourselves, and the Iron Energy merger. Now, of course, there's also Elpension, which has another 5% or 6%. All the rest together, they're probably less than 5% or 6%. There is a consolidation in the market already and very limited opportunities to go out and buy companies. We are always here to buy at the right price. The target of 30% is there. I personally do have a lot of trust to our marketing guys who have been doing an excellent job.
The 21% you mentioned is not the exact figure because the figures depend from season to season. For example, PPC during the summer, for example, increases its stake very much, and that is coming down then during the winter. I can say that in the coming winter, we will see our company going up to about 24%. As you see, we are getting there. The more we see the target coming closer, the more we try.
Very clear. Thank you very much for that. Second question related to the Protos project that you've already discussed quite extensively. That's a waste-to-energy treatment facility and quite different from the more traditional CCGT and solar projects you've undertaken in the past. Do you have other projects in your EPC business which are of similar complexity as the Protos project that could potentially prove challenging to deliver, or is it quite a unique project in your portfolio?
Thank you. As I said before, Protos is a unique case. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. That doesn't mean that in this business, all else is very smooth and easy. This is a difficult business, but it is a business that we know very well. We can face the difficulties effectively. That's what I've been doing, as I said before, in the case of 283 projects. Please mark the figure in the last 12 years. There are problems, but the problems are all not always against the contractor. Many problems are in favor of the contractor. If you go through our notes carefully, you will find some very interesting figures about our claims of ongoing projects or finished projects. It's not a one-way bet. Protos is a unique case and the only waste-to-energy that we have done. As I said, we paid, we learned. Thank you.
Thanks for the comments here. Sticking with the EPC business, but switching to Metka, which you've already alluded to, the strong performance year to date, could you elaborate on the earnings outlook for the second half and your expectations into 2026 and your latest thinking about strategic decisions related to this business down the road?
As I said before, I'm very happy that my predictions for the Metka evolution and improvement in size and effectiveness and results have been made through sooner than I expected. The tripling of its profitability from year on year in the first half is just a start. I'm talking only for Metka now. I would like to confirm to everybody here that we expect Metka to reach or pass the €100 million mark EBITDA for this year. We are also fairly confident that this figure will go up to €150 million next year and will stay there easily for the next years. That, as you imply about strategic decisions, brings back to the table what I had foreseen two or three years ago that Metka eventually could end up representing the group in the Athens Stock Exchange.
If all goes well and the market conditions are appropriate, that could very well take place in 2026. Thank you.
That's very clear. Thanks so much.
The next question is from the line of Martin Thomas with BNP Paribas Exane. Please go ahead.
Hi there. Thanks. I have three questions, please. The first one was just on CapEx. I think it was about €460 million in the first half, and your guidance for the full year, I think, is about €510 million from the CMD. I just wanted to clarify, is that guidance still fully retained for the full year? Will the entire negative CapEx contribution, if you like, from the Chile disposal be booked at the time of completion of that transaction? Is there any update on when that completion might be expected? I had another couple of questions. Maybe I'll come back to those.
Mrs. Kontogianni will answer this question. Thank you.
Hi, Tomas. Thank you for your question. As you probably... Can you hear me? I'm repeating my answer.
Sure.
As you probably noticed in previous year financial statements, the usual pattern of CapEx spending is when we have an annual CapEx list to be split in two between the first half and the second half. This is not exactly the case for these first six months of 2025. Actually, we have front-loaded CapEx spending. Of course, this goes hand in hand with the progressing of our investments. For the remaining of the year, we do not record material CapEx spending in the accounts. We will remain broadly in line with what we have presented in the CMD in London. I would say that the area of slightly above half a billion is a safe area for you to have in mind. On the Chile transaction, no, CapEx will not be fully booked with the completion of the transaction.
Actually, we have completed the transaction within Q2, and spending is recorded as we actually spend. We do not expect material outflows from the side of Chile transaction.
Okay. Maybe I can just ask another couple. On the Australian side, on the renewables, the planned disposal there, I think that process has been going on for over a year now. Is there any update you could give us?
It is a year, but you have to consider that this is a massive transaction. Please, as I said before on our battery forthcoming announcements, please stay tuned and be a little patient, not a lot.
Okay. The final one for me on the Empower contract. You note in the accounts that you've initiated legal actions regarding compensation. I just wanted to clarify, does the booked loss include anything around assumptions for compensation or claims? If those aren't included, if any future benefit isn't included, are you able to give any indication at all of the quantum of claims you might be pursuing there? Thank you.
We have included nothing that can improve our position on this one. We have taken the worst-case scenario, one-off first half period. If our legal actions get any results, this will only improve the situation in the second semester.
The next question is from the line of Andrew Fischer with Berenberg. Please go ahead.
Okay, thank you. Can everybody hear me okay?
Yes, we can still hear you.
Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Thanks for taking my question. Just one quick question, really, on power market development, please. In terms of the dynamic of the increasing exports to neighboring countries and the development of interconnection capacity with those countries, could you just give us an idea about what you expect over the medium to long term now in terms of what's driving demand development in those neighboring countries and just how far can Greece's exports of power go to meet that demand growth, please?
Thank you. Now, interestingly, Greece, as you know, is not a vastly exporting economy. Other than tourism and olive oil, we don't have that much to export. Again, I'm joking. We do make some exports. Now, we have found something that we will be exporting, I think, on a regular basis, and the improvement of the interconnections will increase these power quantities. This is because, number one, the green fleet in Greece has grown dramatically, and it is still growing. This power, before it gets a zero pricing in Greece, is better to be sold for export. A lot of exports. Greece is a great place for power export these days. Number two, neighboring countries like Bulgaria have not even one CCGT.
Romania has only one CCGT. They have less green energy and almost no thermal energy. They both have nuclear, but it's old plants with all the problems that nuclear plants have. That is why very often we see some instability in the supply in Southeast Europe. This is the situation as far as supply and demand is concerned, which is why Greece has become an exporting country, and it will remain so. Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Richard Hatch with Berenberg. Please go ahead. Mr. Hatch, we cannot hear you. Can you hear us?
Yeah, sorry. Yeah, just one question from me. It's just with regards to the grants in your aluminum business, just in terms of the increasing production of the alumina and the production of gallium. Can you just clarify where we are in the grant process and how much of the capital spend you expect to be funded by grants, please? Thank you.
I'm so happy to say that it works on all the fronts of the LIDER project. LIDER is the code name of the project, which includes the bauxite mines, includes the alumina expansion, the podlocking, and includes, of course, our flagship gallium project. I'm very happy to say that all three go well. The total amount of support that we are going to have for this investment, which is almost €300 million, depends on the outcome of the deliberations of the innovation fund, which currently takes place in Brussels. This is European money. We expect maybe at the beginning of the month or latest in October to know exactly what the support is going to be, especially for the investments.
All three, by the way, all three, bauxite, alumina, and gallium, all three, they are in the list of the 36 critical materials that have been described so by the European Union. I will have an answer to your question maybe by the end of September, latest in October. Until then, fingers crossed.
Thank you.
Once again, to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Mytilineos for any closing comments. Thank you.
I thank you for your patience. I thank you for your questions. I wish we did not have this hit on the NPP, but I believe in NPP, and I am personally involved now. I'm always involved personally whenever a segment or a unit in our group has a problem. I am personally involved. We have the best of staff. We have very experienced engineers, and we are here to stay. I let not a competition think that a mishap is going to kick us out of the market. No, we are staying here, and we will be here for a long time. As for the rest of the results, because unfortunately, we spent too much time, I understand the concerns, and I am sure by what I said, I make you feel comfortable. It's a one-off incident. It's been accounted, and that's it.
As for the rest, I'm very confident that this is going to be a good year, and we will celebrate at the end of the year, our first year at the London Stock Exchange and the FTSE 100 with figures that they will all please you. The floor is €1 billion, and the net is going to be around €600 million. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling, and have a pleasant evening.